Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar

Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar
Game No.	439
Voting	7.75 points, 20 votes
Developer	Richard Garriott
Company	Origin Systems
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/A/Arnold_Kenneth/Ultima_IV-Quest_of_the_Avatar.sid
Release	1986
Platform	C64, Amiga, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, MSX, PC-DOS
Genre	RPG 2D
Gamemode	1 Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Forerunner: Ultima III – Exodus Follower: Ultima V – Warriors of Destiny

Description

Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar is the fourth part of the Ultima series.

Some time has passed since the Stranger from another world managed to defeat the evil Mondain and his followers. But again it was not granted to the mysterious land under the rule of Lord British to find peace. Although no super-villain threatens the realm this time, the evil is lurking everywhere.

The Avatar shall now strengthen in the eight virtues, protect the land and set a glowing example. These eight virtues are:

Honesty	Compassion	Valour	Justice	Sacrifice	Honor	Spirituality	Humility

And what is the story about the mysterious Codex of Ultimate Wisdom?

Special tasks await you, Avatar!

Design

In the fourth part of the Ultima series, the player needs to first endure a kind of medical-psychological examination and for this answer some questions to a gypsy. From this the character values are generated, which for the first time in the series cannot be allocated by the player. Ultima IV offers an upper world of enormous size in which Avatar and his troupe, as usual from the bird's view, can walk around. The game world is in comparison to part three approx. sixteen times bigger. Ghost towns, captive balloons and pirate ships are examples for the diversified design of Britannia. What was especially improved, is the communication with the NPCs, which now seems significantly more lively and coherent.

Screenshots

An animation from the introduction of Ultima IV

Single screen animation of the starting sequence

The start of the game

Hints

Runes

The runes of Britannia

Following an old tradition handed down from generation to generation, many signs and signposts in Britannia are written in unique and fascinating runes which were once used by druids for their notations. According to a study, these runes are older than Britannia itself. The superficial wanderer might be confused by this writing, but the clever traveller will not spare any effort to study this writing intently.

Keys

Key	Key	Key
E :ENTER: Enter a town/dungeon/castle	S  :SEARCH: search surroundings*	O  :OPEN DOOR: open door*
T  :TALK: talk with NPCs (e.g merchants)	U  :USE: use a found item*	J  :JIMMY LOCK: open door with magical key*
Z  :ZTATUS: inventory (F5/F7 scrolls)	-	G  :GET CHEST: open a treasure chest
-	R  :READY WEAPON: draw a weapon	-
@  :NORTH: Go north; forwards in dungeons	W  :WEAR ARMOUR: put on armour	P  :PEER AT A GEM: use magic gem
[  :WEST: Go west; turn left in dungeons	A  : ATTACK: attack an enemy	I  :IGNITE TORCH: ignite a torch in the dungeons
]  :EAST: Go east; turn right in dungeons	C  :CAST SPELL: cast a spell	D  :DESCEND: climb down a ladder in dungeons
?  :SOUTH: Go south; backwards in dungeons	M  :MIX REAGENTS: mix ingredients for spells*	K  :KLIMB: climb up a ladder in dungeons
-	-	-
V  :VOLUME: switch sound on and off	H  :HOLE UP AND CAMP: rest and heal*	F  :FIRE CANNONS: fire cannons
Q  :QUIT & SAVE: save game	L  :LOCATE: confirm position with object*	X : X-it: dismount horse/leave ship
N  :NEW ORDER: set the order of the group*	Y  :YELL: shout a word	B  :BOARD: mount a horse or board a ship

*= command differs from Ultima III – Exodus

Solution

The aim of the game

The aim of the game consists of two parts. The first partial aim is to become an 8-Part Avatar. To reach this, you need to act all your life (in the game) in pursuance of the eight virtues of the Avatar. These eight virtues are Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality and Humility. For each virtue there is an epiphany, which you get, when you have acted in your life along one of the virtues for long enough. When you have the epiphanies in all eight virtues, you are Avatar and have reached the first partial aim.

The second partial aim is directly connected to the first one: As Avatar you need to enter the last haven of evil in Britannia, the Great Stygian Abyss, find in it the Chamber of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom and enter it. When you have received the last enlightenment from the Codex, the game is solved.

The companions

At the start of the game you need to answer seven questions with the choice of a virtue. Depending on the answer, there is a bonus on the each 15 points for INTelligence, DEXterity and STRength. At the same time, the two most used answers determine the final questions and the answer to that then determines the profession and the hometown of the created character who then takes the role of the companion in that town. In the further course of the game you then collect the companions from the other towns. The Bard starts as the only one with a long range weapon.

Virtue	Bonus	Profession	Town	Name	Details
1 - Honesty	Int +3	mage	Moonglow	Mariah	North of the bridge at the entrance. Below it is a treasure chest (Rune of Honesty).
2 - Compassion	Dex +3	bard	Britain	Iolo	Southeast behind a bridge at the campfire. He carries a box in his hand.
3 - Valor	Str +3	fighter	Jhelom	Geoffrey	In the first room of the Inn. To enter, you only need a key.
4 - Justice	Dex+1,Int+1	druid	Yew	Jaana	On a clearing that is deep in the forest west of the prison
5 - Sacrifice	Dex+1,Str+1	tinker	Minoc	Julia	In the Poor House
6 - Honor	Int+1,Str+1	paladin	Trinsic	Dupre	In the tavern
7 - Spirituality	Dex+Int+Str+	ranger	Skara Brae	Shamino	The first person that you meet at the entrance
8 - Humility	no bonus	shepherd	Magincia	Katrina	Southeast outside the ruin walls

The eight virtues

The only person who can tell you about the progress you made at each virtue is the seer in Lord British's castle. He also gives the permission to get the enlightenment for each virtue, when you are ready. For each virtue there are rules in behaviour to which you strictly have to adhere to make progress.

• Honesty:
  Do not pick up the gold (treasure chests) that is lying around in towns, villages or castles!
  Never betray the blind traders at the Magical Reagents!
• Compassion:
  Try to wound but not kill non-evil creatures!
  Never attack!
  Give beggars as much gold as possible!
• Valor:
  Fight as much as possible against evil creatures!
  Only flee when it is really necessary!
• Justice:
  Do not attack inhabitants in towns/villages/castles!
  Do not steal any gold!
  Do not kill any non-evil creatures, even when you are attacked by them (only make them flee)!
• Sacrifice:
  Give much gold to beggars!
  Donate often blood to the healer shop! (For this answer the question of whether you need help with "NO". Then you will be asked if you want to donate blood, which costs 100 hit points. Only go if you have at least 400 HP.)
• Honor:
  Do not pick up any treasure chests that do not belong to you!
  Do not attack non-evil creatures!
• Spirituality:
  Visit the seer often!
  Meditate often!
• Humility:
  Always answer the question "Art thou proud?" with "NO"!

After having received the permission from the seer to get an enlightenment, you need to visit the shrine that belongs to the corresponding virtue and meditate for three cycles. To be able to enter a shrine and meditate there you need two things: first the rune. It is needed to be able the enter the shrine in the first place. Then the mantra. This is a syllable or a word with which you can collect your thoughts and concentrate. Each shrine has its own mantra and its own rune. You will get to know the mantras through talking to people, the runes need to be found with the help of the search command.

Moon phases, coordinates of the moongates, towns and runes

The moongate system is rather easy to understand: The first moon, Trammel, shows the gate that is currently active. The second moon, Felluca, shows the destination gate. Due to the different moon phases only certain combinations are possible. If used correctly, the moongates spare you a lot of walking and facilitate the game significantly. From the listed places you get to the destinations as below:

• Moonglow: Britain, Jhelom
• Britain: Yew, Minoc, Trinsic
• Jhelom: Moonglow, Skara Brae, Magincia
• Yew: Britain, Jhelom
• Minoc: Shrine of Spirituality, Trinsic, Skara Brae
• Trinsic: Moonglow, Britain, Magincia
• Skara Brae: Jhelom, Yew, Minoc
• Magincia: Trinsic, Skara Brae

Example: To get teleported from Trinsic to Britain, the following constellation must appear: –

Phase	Town	Coordinates	Mood gate	Virtue	Rune
	Moonglow	I'H" O'I"	I'F" O'A"	Honesty	A'G" A'I"
	Britian	G'K" F'C"	G'G" G'A"	Compassion	A'B" B'J"
	Jhelom	N'O" C'E"	O'A" C'G"	Valor	B'O" B'O"
	Yew	C'L" D'K"	C'F" D'C"	Justice	A'G" A'N"
	Minoc	B'E" J'P"	B'D" K'G"	Sacrifice	B'O" B'M"
	Trinsic	L'I" G'K"	M'C" G'I"	Honor	B'N" A'C"
	Skara Brae	I'A" B'G"	H'O" B'H"	Spirituality	A'I" B'B"
	Magincia	K'J" L'L"	K'H" L'L"	Humility	B'N" B'N"

The eight stones

For each of the eight avatar virtues there is a coloured stone. Six of these stones can be found in several dungeons, the rest at two other places.

• The blue stone: The Blue Stone of Honesty is in level VI of the dungeon Deceit which lies at LAT: E'J" LONG: P'A" on the Bloody Isles. You need a ship to reach it.
• The yellow stone: The Yellow Stone of Compassion lies in the V. level of the dungeon Despise. You find the dungeon at LAT: E'D" LONG: F'L" in Serpent's Spine.
• The red stone: The Red Stone of Valor. It can be found in the VII. level in Destard, at LAT: K'J" LONG: E'I", in the mountains west of the Fens of the Dead.
• The green stone: The Green Stone of Justice. It is in the VIII. level of the dungeon Wrong, which is located at the position LAT: B'E" LONG: H'O" in the mountains west of Lost Hope Bay.
• The orange stone: The Stone of Sacrifice lies in the VII. level of Covetous. This dungeon is located at the position LAT: B'L" LING: J'M", southwest of the town Minoc, and can be reached by ship.
• The purple stone: The Purple Stone of Honor. You find it in the II. level of Shame. This dungeon is located at LAT: G'G" LONG: D'K". For this you need to follow a small river into the Serpent's Spine with a ship coming from northwest.
• The white stone: The White Stone of Spirituality. You find it in the middle of Serpent's Spine, at the position LAT: F'A" LONG: E'A". To be able to reach it, you need the lighter-than-air-device, a balloon!
• The black stone: The Black Stone of Humility. It is easiest to reach of all stones. Look at the place where the moongate of Moonglow (I'F" O'A") also opens at a double new moon, when both moons reach the position 1 (so when the gate should appear!)

The three key parts

For these you need to go to the dungeon Hythloth! In the eighth level there are three chancels, where the stones need to be used in their order within the principles to get the key parts. The following altars have the following combinations:

• Truth: blue, green, purple, white
• Love: yellow, orange, green, white
• Courage: red, orange, purple, white

Other important items

• The Silver Horn can be found on one of the islands at the southern tip of Spiritwood K'N" C'N" (you need it at the Shrine of Humility)
• You can find the Bell of Courage if you search with a ship at a flat place in the water in the ocean at N'A" L'A".
• The Book of Truth can be found in the Lycaeum A'G" A'G" in the shelf "T". The Lord tells you the first part of the Word of Passage: "VER"
• You find the Skull of Mondain if you sail to the three volcanoes in the sea P'F" M'F" during double new moon.
• At Serpent's Hold A'P" A'I" you search the training mat until you find the Mystic Weapons, which are the only ones that work in the chasm. The Lord tells you the last part of the Word of Passage: "COR"
• In Empath Abbey A'E" B'G" in the oak grave lie the Mystic Armors. The Lord gives you the second part of the Word of Passage: "AMO"
• The town Cove lies at the Lock Lake and you only get there with the "Blink" spell. In Cove A'B" B'G you enter the temple of virtue where you find the Candle of Love.
• The Wheel of HMS Cape can be found at N'H" G'A"

Map of Britannia

You can only get the sextant, when you ask the thieves for item "D", which is not on the list. This little helper is an absolute must in Britannia, because it gives the corresponding location of the user in latitude and longitude.
Britannia is divided into 16 x 16 big blocks, which are again divided into 16 x 16 small fields.
Example: Lat. D' L'', Long. M' J'', short "DLMJ" or DL MJ means, that you are in the map block on D latitude and M longitude and within this block in the field on L latitude and J longitude (in Vesper).

Map of Britannia without labels.

Map of Britannia without labels and legend

Map of Britannia with all the town names:

Map of the dungeons

You find a map of the dungeons here: Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar - dungeon maps

Prices

Cheap food is available in Skara Brae, Hanse-players and pirates surely would love to do ocean-going trade between Paws and Buccaneer's Den, but disappointingly they had to find out that the herb woman does not buy anything.... Furthermore, you need to be aware that you need to own at least one Black Pearl already to be able to enter the herb shop in Buccaneer's Den with the spell "Dispel".

Town	Food	Sulf. Ash	Ginseng	Garlic	Spider Silk	Blood Moss	Black Pearl
Skara Brae	20 gold	2 gold	4 gold	9 gold	6 gold	4 gold	8 gold
Yew	35 gold	-	-	-	-	-	-
Britain	40 gold	-	-	-	-	-	-
Paws	30 gold	3 gold	4 gold	2 gold	9 gold	6 gold	7 gold
Bucc.'s Den	-	6 gold	7 gold	9 gold	9 gold	9 gold	1 gold
Moonglow	25 gold	2 gold	5 gold	6 gold	3 gold	6 gold	9 gold

Magic

Magic is extremely useful when you use it the right way. In Paws, Moonglow, Skara Brae and Buccaneer's Den you can buy six of the eight types of reagents. But you need to search for the two last ones, because they are very rare. You can find them here:
nightshade: JF CO in Spiritwood, CM MN north of the Shrine of Sacrifice
mandrake root: DG LG in the moor of the Bloody Plains, KF GE on an island of the Fens of Death
The plants can only be found at double new moon - and please stay away from the place for a while before you can harvest again.
The spells and their effects:

Reagents: A = Sulfurous Ash, B = Ginseng, C = Garlic, D = Spider Silk, E = Blood Moss, F = Black Pearl, G = Nightshade, H = Mandrake Root

Spell	Key	Reagents	Effect
Awaken	A	B C	wake up
Blink	B	D E	enables you to teleport to the next meadow or swamp field in viewing direction
Cure	C	B C	cures poisonings
Dispel	D	A C F	dissolves force fields
Energy Field	E	A D F	creates and energy field
Fireball	F	A F	fire spell
Gate Travel	G	A F H	teleport to a moongate of your choice – from EVERYWHERE!
Heal	H	B D	heal
Iceball	I	F H	ice spell
Jinx	J	F G H	enemies fight each other
Kill	K	F G	injure enemy
Light	L	A	creates light without cumbersome torches
Magic Missile	M	A F	scare enemies
Negate Magic	N	A C H	stops use of magic for enemies
Open	O	A E	open items
Protection	P	A B C	protective spell
Quickness	Q	A C E	double attack for a character
Resurrect	R	A B C D E H	resurrects the dead
Sleep	S	B D	make enemies fall asleep
Tremor	T	A E H	call up a tremor
Undead	U	A? C?
View	V	G H	overview of the terrain
Wind Change	W	A E	makes the wind turn
Xit (Exit)	X	A D E	instantly leave a dungeon
Y (Up)	Y	D E	teleport one dungeon level up
Z (Down)	Z	D E	teleport one dungeon level down

Weapons

Mage, Druid, Bard, Tinker, Paladin, Ranger, Fighter, Shepherd

#	Long range weapon	Price	Mainland	Island	M	D	B	T	P	R	F	S
J	flaming oil	5	Vesper	Bucc's Den	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
D	sling	25	Britain, Vesper	-	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
H	bow	250	Trinsic, Vesper	-		x	x	x	x	x	x
I	crossbow	600	-	Bucc's Den, Jhelom		x	x	x	x	x	x
L	magic axe	1500	Minoc	-				x	x
N	magic bow	2000	-	Bucc's Den		x	x	x	x	x
O	magic wand	5000	-	Bucc's Den	x	x	x

#	Close combat weapon	Price	Mainland	Island	M	D	B	T	P	R	F	S
C	dagger	2	Britain, Vesper	-	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
B	staff	20	Britain	-	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
E	mace	100	Trinsic, Minoc	-		x	x	x	x	x	x	x
F	axe	225	Trinsic	Jhelom			x	x	x	x	x	x
G	sword	300	Britain, Trinsic	Jhelom			x	x	x	x	x	x
K	halberd	350	Minoc	Jhelom				x	x		x
L	magic axe	1500	Minoc	-				x	x	x
M	magic sword	2500	Minoc	-				x	x	x	x
?	Mystic Sword	7000	-	-	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

#	armour	Price	Mainland	Island	M	D	B	T	P	R	F	S
B	cloth	50	Britain, Trinsic, Paws	Bucc's Den	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
C	leather	200	Britain	Bucc's Den		x	x	x	x	x	x
D	chain mail	600	Trinsic, Minoc	Bucc's Den, Jhelom				x	x		x
E	plate mail	2000		Jhelom					x		x
F	magic chain	4000	Trinsic	Jhelom					x		x
G	magic plate	7000	-	Jhelom					x		x
?	Mystic				x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Conversation

Only the first four letters of a phrase need to be given, the program does not check for more letters. Basically, you should be modest and never answer that you know everything or even that you are proud to be an Avatar...

Phrase	Person	Place	Reaction
LOOK			indirect description of the person
NAME			name is given
JOB			description of the job/counter question
HEALth			comment about the health
JOIN	Mariah	Moonglow	then belongs to the party
HUMIlity	Patric	Moonglow	+ answer counter question with "no"
MANTra	Cromwell	Moonglow	! mantra of the shrine of honesty ="AHM"
RUNE	William	Moonglow	! location
JOIN	Iolo	Britain	then belongs to the party
NATUre	Julio	Britain	+ answer counter question with "no"
PRIDe	Mentor	Britain	+ answer counter question with "no"
RUNE	Pepper	Britain	! location
JOIN	Geoffrey	Jhelom	then belongs to the party
VALOr	Sir Hrothgar	Jhelom	+ answer counter question with "no"
RED	X	Jhelom	+ answer counter question with "no"
RUNE	Nostro	Jhelom	! location
JOIN	Jaana	YEW	then belongs to the party
PEACe	big Guard	Yew	+ answer counter question with "no"
RUNE	Talfourd	Yew	+ answer counter question with "no"
FABRic	Flamis	YEW	+ answer counter question with "no"
JOIN	Julia	Minoc	then belongs to the party
SKULl	Jude	Minoc	! answer counter question with "yes"
SHRINe	Merida	Minoc	? answer counter question with "no"
JOIN	Dupre	Trinsic	then belongs to the party
NIGHtshade	Virgil	Trinsic	! coordinates
RUNE	Terrin	Trinsic	! location
JOIN	Shamino	Skara Brae	then belongs to the party
QUESt	White	Skara Brae	+ answer counter question with "no"
OM	Ankh of Spirituality	Skara Brae	! answer counter question with "no"
WORD	Romasco	Skara Brae	! search for Zair the Wise in Paws
JOIN	Katrina	Magincia	then belongs to the party
HANG	Faultless	Magincia	+ answer counter question with "no"
MANTra	Faultless	Magincia	! Mantra for pride = "MUL"
HAUNt	Heywood	Magincia	+ answer counter question with "no"

Enemies

A good Avatar only kills evil monsters.

Evil Monster	EXP	x	Non-Evil	EXP
Balron	16		bat	4
Cyclops	9		insects	4
Daemon	8		rat	4
Dragon	15		seahorse	7
Ettin	8		snake
Gazer	16		spider	5
Ghost	6
Gremlin	4
Headless	5		bard	9
Hydra	14		beggar	13
Lava lizard	7		bull	11
Lich	13		child	10
Mimic	13		druid	10
Nixie	5		fighter	7
Orc	6		guard	13
Phantom	4		horse	9
Phyton	4		jester	9
Reaper	16		mage	8
Rogue	6		merchant	9
Serpent	9		paladin	4
Skeleton	4		ranger	3
Slime	4		shepherd	9
Squid	9		tinker	9
Troll	7		villager	13
Wisp	5
Wizard	12
Zorn	16

Tips

• The first character:
  Although you will get a companion of each of the eight professions in the course of the game, it is not entirely unimportant which character type you choose at the beginning. This character needs to lead the group during all of the game, so it is always at the first position in fights. Therefore it should be able to wear good armour as it needs to bear a lot at that position. Furthermore is the experience level decisive for the number of members that can be taken into the party. To be able to fill up the group to four characters, the "leading character" needs to have reached at least level 4, for 5 members level 5 and so on. So the character should be a good fighter, so it can raise its level quickly. All these requirements fit the paladin. He can use very good weapons and armour (better ones than e.g. the fighter), and he is also a rather good magic user and with this the ideal leader.

In each town (not in villages or castles!) you find exactly one character that is going to join the party, when the leader has reached the corresponding level (exception: the town to which the own character belongs). When you enlarge the group this should not happen without a plan. Weak characters as e.g. the shepherd should be taken into the group at the very end. If you start with a paladin, you basically have reached the 3rd level, which means that you can instantly add two new characters to the party. Recommendation: a bard and a druid or a mage. Then you should get the tinker, ranger and last the fighter and the shepherd. It is important that at the very end you have all 8 characters when you enter the Great Stygian Abyss.

• The first steps:
  At the start you should directly visit Lord British's castle and speak to Lord British. Then go to the seer who is also in the castle. In contrast to Ultima II and Ultima III is the seer(?) in Ultima IV for free, which is easy on the purse. You can ask him for all the eight virtues and he will say what the status of them are with you.

• Conversations:
  Talk to each character that you meet in the course of the game. At some places you can talk with highly odd characters, so e.g. in the castle of Lord British with the water (!) in a certain room or in the ruins of Magincia with the snake by which you are attacked. Also consider characters that are behind closed doors in the inns and in towns. Sometimes you need a key to get to these characters. You should also walk around the surrounding walls of every town / village / castle. Often important persons hide there.

• Secret doors:
  Absolutely look out for secret doors that are in many walls in towns, villages, castles and dungeon rooms. The secret passages can be recognized by looking closely. These permeable stones play an important role in the dungeons where they are used as a type of switch. When entering these permeable stones, often secret doors and exits open that lead to the most important places and items. So do not despair if there does not seem to be an exit in a dungeon room (except for the way back). Look closely, maybe there is a permeable stone somewhere which makes an exit appear when entering.

• Dungeons:
  The dungeons are partially utterly unfair. You often need to do with masses of enemies and rooms in which you need to find out how exactly to proceed. There are false ladders that mislead you, switches, energy fields, poison fields, secret doors and in the dungeon Hythloth there are even three altar rooms but they are all empty, because the white stone is somewhere else (in a small valley that lies at FA EA and can also be reached by "Blink"). Tips for the dungeons:
  Crystals can help you navigate.
  "Dispel Field" is a must, same with "Light".
  The balls give abilities but also steal life points. The virtue of the dungeon determines the abilities.
  Never drink from the springs.
  The spells X, Y and Z are obligatory.

• The Great Stygian Abyss:
  You need to know and possess the following things to cross the Abyss and to be able to enter the Chamber of the Codex of the Ultimate Wisdom:
  You need to be 8 Part Avatar – The party needs to have all eight members – You need to own a ship – You should own the wheel of HMS Cape – The party needs to be equipped with Mystic Armour (possibly also with Mystic Weapons) – You need to own the Bell of Courage – You need to own the Book of Truth – You need to own the Candle of Love – You should own the Skull of Mondain – You need to know how the eight Avatar virtues combine from the three principles Truth, Love and Courage – You need to know the Word of Passage – You need to know the One Pure Axiom – You need to own the Key of three Parts – You need to own the eight coloured stones that belong to the eight Avatar virtues.

You know the way to the island, it is where the Shrine of Humility is. First you go into the direction of the Shrine and go around the island on the left. On the westersn side you find an entrance that leads to a big bay in the middle of the island. Before using this entrance you need to use the magic wheel! After some fights against pirates you land in the east of the bay, follow the swamps further to the east and then turn to the south. You see a net-like structure made of fire with an orange-coloured lava field in the middle. This field is the entrance to the Great Stygian Abyss. Now you enter the lava field.

Now use the Bell of Courage, the Book of Truth, the Candle of Love and the Skull of Mondain. Then enter the Great Stygian Abyss.

In each level of the Abyss there is an altar. At each altar you need to use one of the eight stones and answer a question. If you used the right stone, the altar turns into a ladder that leads one story lower. At the end of the eight level waits the Chamber of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom!

The question for the Word of Passage you answer with Veramocor and answer the questions successively with: Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, Humility, Truth, Love, Courage, Infinity.

Cheats

• With CTRL  + S  you can get the values for all virtues shown. Starting value is 5050505050505050, target value is 9999999999999999

• There are several cracked versions of Ultima IV, that partially have trainer menus. Typical options are unlimited spell energy, food, torches or keys.

• With version with more than one disk side: When you swap the disk without the program saying so, it can happen that you land in "broken" areas of dungeons when wandering through Britannia. However, you can plunder the treasures in those dungeon areas. To return, simply insert the correct disk side and go on wandering. (not tested)

Voting

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.75 points at 20 votes (rank 151). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	8	4th April 2015 - 8 out of 10 points - 19549 downs
Lemon64	9	4th April 2015 - 8,8 out of 10 points - 134 votes
Ready64	9	4th April 2015 - 9 out of 10 points - 1 vote
Kultboy.com	9	4th April 2015 - 8,79 out of 10 points - 20 votes
The Legacy	9	4th April 2015 - "excellent" - 13 votes
Gamebase64	10	"Classic!"
Amiga Joker	8	Special No.3 1992 - 83% - p.11
Happy Computer	-	Issue July 1985 - test report without evaluation - p.141 Issue May 1986 - test report without evaluation
Computer & Videogames	7	Issue June 1986 - 7 out of 10 points - p.91
Commodore User	7	Issue June 1986 - 4 out of 6 points - p.61
Zzap!64	9	Issue May 1986 - 90% - p.67

Critics

Happy Computer July 1985: "Ultima IV is approx. 16 times as big as Ultima II and offers the player significantly more stuff to think about. Other characters that act on the screen have even gotten their own personality. So if you strike down an Orc it can happen that he will get his big brother and he then can take horrible revenge. Also duels are possible; many a nobleman challenge the player to a duel. Vote: recommendable." (German original by Heinrich Lenhardt, Manfred Kohlen)
(Note: This article referred to the original version, the conversion for the C64 was released one year later.)

FXXS: "Significantly more taste than Ultima III, group inventory instead of character inventory and smaller towns reduce some of the repeating effort and with the remastered version one can also finally switch off the time limit per move and use the joystick for the controls. The big hatch that is left is the too big influence of luck for the gold chests and with the promotions. It is a pity that you cannot sell herbs. Close 9 points."

Miscellaneous

Ultima IV Remastered v2.2.1

The version "Ultima IV Remastered v2.2.1" by the "Genesis Project" offers next to different cheat modes and a savegame editor also numerous improvements, bug fixes, SuperCPU support, control with joystick and new graphics in the intro part (ported from the FM-Towns version). This version is available as D64, D71, D81 and EasyFlash cartridge image and also runs on CMD FD and CMD HD (see Links).

Video

The introduction of Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar

Cover

The front cover of Ultima IV

The back cover of Ultima IV

Disks

The first disk of Ultima IV

The second disk of Ultima IV

Accessories

This map was enclosed to the game

This ankh was enclosed as a bonus

High Score

For the gallery the least moves until all eight companions are recruited count. It is played with the d81 version "U4remastered". "Idle without pass" is allowed to be able to play in the emulator with faster speed.

1. Fenyx4 - 2248 Züge (14.04.2021)
2. organMike - 2805 (14.04.2021)
3. FXXS - 11.498 Züge (17.04.2015)

	#2 organMike		#3 FXXS

Links

Wikipedia: Ultima

Wikipedia: Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

• Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar at the Codex of Ultima Wisdom
• C64Games.de - Game No. 1240
• Lemon64 - Game No. 2750
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 8288
• Test Report No. 318 on Kultboy.com
• TheLegacy entry no.5752
• ready64 - Game No. 386
• ZZap64 test report
• The SixtyFour Originals DataBase - Game No. 792
• CSDb - Release No. 138772 Ultima IV Remastered v2.2.1 by "Genesis Project"
• Ultima IV recreated
• Ultima IV remastered graphics from the status of 2015.
• Ultima IV at strategywiki.org
• Maps for Ultima IV at moongates.com
• c64sets.com Manual, cover scan, map and accessories
• ASM complete solution for Ultima IV
• gamefaqs for Ultima IV

Videos

• Video at YouTube (Ultima IV 4 Quest of the Avatar C64)
• Video at YouTube (C64 Television playing Ultima IV (DAY 2) )
• Video at YouTube (Ultima IV PC -- Styigian Abyss and Ending )

The following games were released in the Ultima games series for the C64:

Ultima I – The First Age of Darkness · Ultima II – The Revenge of the Enchantress! · Ultima III – Exodus
Ultima IV – Quest of the Avatar · Ultima V – Warriors of Destiny · Ultima VI – The False Prophet